Charla Bocchicchio has been acting and teaching for 25 years. She received her BFA in Theater Education from the University of Utah with a Child Drama minor, where she served as Artistic Director for a “Trust”, a touring theatrical program promoting child abuse prevention. She was a regular instructor for the U of U’s Theatre School for Youth and their after-school drama program in addition to teaching acting at Rowland Hall. She credits here knowledge of teaching drama to her long-time mentor, Dr. Xan Johnson from the U of U.

Charla relocated to Birmingham, AL in 1995 where she founded and directed her own youth theater company, StageDoor Youth Theatre, in addition to running programs at Children’s Dance Foundation for 14 years. While in Birmingham, she also served as adjunct theatre faculty at Birmingham-Southern College. In the summer of 2001, she was invited as a master teacher to teach at The Zona Gale Youth Theatre School in Portage, WI. During her years in Birmingham, Charla directed many stage productions including; “Anne Frank and Me”, ‘Zink; The Myth, The Legend, The Zebra", "Searching for David’s Heart", “Annie”, “The Music Man” and more. As an actor, some of her favorite roles on stage have; Becca in “Rabbit Hole”, Grace in “From Up Here” and originating the role of Anita Bryant in Billy Ray Brewton’s original musical, “Skanks in a One Horse Town” which is also the subject of a documentary release this year by David McMahon called “Skanks”. Charla took every opportunity in Birmingham to get involved in the budding film community, where she was soon sought after by local filmmakers as their go-to local actress for their short and feature films.

Charla took a huge risk and relocated to Southern California in 2012 with her 18 year old daughter, Cassidy. Armed with her headshots and an agent, Charla descended on Hollywood. In Los Angeles, she had some success in booking commercials, short films, music videos, and a feature film, “Perfect Cowboy”, in which she received rave reviews for her supporting role. Charla also taught award-winning commercial classes for kids and teens and provided private coaching for all ages at Keep It Real Acting in North Hollywood, mentored by the amazing Judy Kain. There, she helped create a new commercial auditioning workshop especially for 4-6 year olds, as well as a kids camp for 7-12 yr olds, covering auditioning skills, commercial acting, film and TV acting, voice-over, improv, and hosting skills. She has a special gift for working with young people and has nurtured and encouraged many young actors to find their creative voice. In Los Angeles, Charla had the opportunity to study with some of the best acting teachers in the country, including; Anthony Meindl at his well-known AMAW (Anthony Meindl’s Actor’s Workshop), Judy Kain at Keep it Real Acting, Candy Kaniecki at West End Studios and Julie Brister at UCB (Upright Citizen’s Brigade).

With a lifetime of experience under her belt, she made the decision to move back to Salt Lake City in September 2014, with her wonderful, loving husband, John, to start a new life together and continue her career as an actor and acting coach, locally. Back with the McCarty Talent agency, Charla hit the ground running by booking a co-star role on BYU TV’s “Granite Flats” as well as a music video for Paul Kalkbrenner, several commercials and short films. She also shot a feature film on location in Voroqua, WI. Now, after 3 years back in Utah, Charla has become a highly sought after actress. Enjoying much success with several viral internet ads, TV commercials, co-star roles on major Hollywood productions shooting in the area, as well as a multitude of short and feature films! She continues to teach on camera auditioning classes in addition to private coaching. Charla is thrilled to be back in her home state of Utah to be close to family once again and continued succcess in this next chapter of her long, exciting acting and teaching career.

“The resentment and rivalry between the up-and-coming musician and the seasoned old-timer is aggravated by the history that sets them apart in their rural community. Jimmy is, essentially, Mark’s second parent. Over their 20 years together, the two men raised Mark while his mother, Lacy (Charla Cochran), overcome with shame and anger about her failed marriage and her own struggles, was out of the picture. Lacy leads an almost monastic life in a one-room house on a ranch run by Ty’s sister (Sharon Bollum, conveying understated compassion), and is slowly being drawn back into the family. Lacy’s story is one of the movie’s most fascinating threads, but it gets muddled by the surfeit of action and asides that have far less emotional weight.”